Arrow: Wild Dog & Black Canary Upped to Series Regulars for Season 6

CBR

By Meagan Damore

Published Apr 13, 2017

The CW has confirmed that Rick Gonzalez and Juliana Harkavy, who play Wild Dog and Black Canary, will return with larger roles next season.

Dinah Drake's Black Canary and Wild Dog are here to stay! Both characters have been upped to series regulars for "Arrow's" upcoming Season 6. The CW has confirmed that Rick Gonzalez and Juliana Harkavy, who play Wild Dog and Black Canary respectively, will return with larger roles next season.

Wild Dog was introduced at the beginning of "Arrow" Season 5. In the wake of Black Canary's death, Oliver Queen began looking for new recruits for his team and discovered Gonzalez's Rene Ramirez, a stubborn vigilante with a penchant for hockey masks. Oliver invited Rene on the team alongside Curtis Holt (Mister Terrific) and Evelyn Sharp (Artemis), though Evelyn would eventually betray the team and join Prometheus.

Evelyn's betrayal left behind a gap on the team, which Oliver quickly filled with Harkavy's Dinah Drake. Like Black Siren, Dinah is a metahuman with a sonic scream. A former undercover cop, she also has advanced martial arts skills. She joined Team Arrow following the mid-season premiere and has since assumed the Black Canary mantle, promising Quentin Lance that he would live up to his daughter Laurel's heroic legacy.

Seeing as Wild Dog and Black Canary will now be series regulars, it seems as though they will survive the Season 5 finale. It is unclear at this time if Echo Kellum's Curtis Holt, one of Oliver's other new recruits, will also be upped to a series regular; like Willa Holland's Thea Queen, Curtis was a recurring character in Season 5.

The return of Dinah Drake is particularly notable, since Katie Cassidy's Black Siren will also be a series regular in Season 6. Black Siren is the Earth-2 doppelganger of Laurel Lance, but with a metahuman sonic scream and an evil twist. She teamed up with Prometheus in the mid-season finale, only to be imprisoned, and she will be back for the last two episodes of Season 5. Beyond that, not much is known about the nature of Black Siren's return. However, seeing as Dinah Drake will remain on the show, it seems likely that Black Siren will remain a villain, as Team Arrow probably doesn't need two separate heroes with sonic screams.

Starring Stephen Amell as the Emerald Archer, “Arrow” airs Wednesdays at 8 pm ET/PT on The CW. The series also stars Emily Bett Rickards, David Ramsey, John Barrowman, Willa Holland and more.